


you and me and my old friends

by aprincessofdaxam



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Karamel-flavored, Legion of SuperHeroes - Freeform, Saturnvalor discussions, superfriends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 11:06:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16809391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprincessofdaxam/pseuds/aprincessofdaxam
Summary: Because maybe he misses his friends, too. Kara and Brainy come to an understanding. Oneshot set between S3&S4.





	you and me and my old friends

"It's just not logical - "  
  
"I know."  
  
" - for the clothing to be outside - "  
  
"I _know_ ... "  
  
" - when humans' weather predictions are only 63 percent accurate at best - "  
  
"Brainy. I KNOW." Kara rubs her temples. It's exceptionally rare for her to get a headache, especially on a lovely day like this one, with the yellow sun out in full force, and when she hasn't had a fight in days, but she thinks she feels one coming on.  
  
_I love my sister,_ she reminds herself. Alex already has her plate full dealing with the transitions at the DEO, including adjusting to her new role after J'onn had stepped away, and is at her wits' end with trying to help one displaced-in-time Coluan on top of that. As Brainy moved things around at Winn's former workstation, Alex had started to get that look in her eyes that Kara vividly remembers from when she was 15 and her type-A self, still favoring the meticulous organization of Krypton, would cross over to Alex's side of their shared bedroom in an attempt to organize the chaos. Kara might be the one with super-strength and heat vision, but Alex is just plain scary.  
  
So, she'd hastily offered to be the one to take Brainy downtown, to pick up civilian clothes and sneakers and other necessities he'll need if he is to be here for any length of time. But now, roaming National City's open-air market, which is apparently unlike anything that exists in the 31st century, she's starting to understand why Alex looked like she had a headache.  
  
_I love my sister,_ she reminds herself. Besides, _Winn and Mon-El would definitely want me to -_  
  
She takes a deep breath at the sudden thought of her friends, which happens - not a few times a day, if she's being honest. Although, Winn is really more like family, and Mon-El - well, _friend_ is _far_ too simple a word, but considering where they'd left things. ... Part of her wants to shove down and ignores the grief she feels knowing they're centuries away. Another part of her, the part that wants to be brave, refuses to let her bury herself in ice again.  
  
Before she can go too far down that rabbit hole, she's distracted by the currently-dark-haired alien next to her, who is frowning down at a display of shoeboxes. "There's no organization to this place whatsoever."  
  
"Brainy, why don't you just look around and see what catches your eye?" she suggests. "We'll start browsing there."  
  
He sighs out half a breath that says he's only humoring her before turning in a complete circle to look around, his mannerisms still exaggerated. Suddenly, his eyes light up as much as they ever light up, for the first time since he discovered olive and apple pizza. He quickly crosses to the other side of the street, moving with his strange grace.  
  
Kara follows him, weaving around the orange cones and police tape blocking off the deep cracks in the pavement. They'd stopped Reign's terraforming of the Earth, but the city wasn't untouched, and the repairs are underway - with an assist, of course, from Supergirl, who'd been busy earlier that day helping construction crews clear the heaviest rubble. The denizens of National City, used to regular semi-catastrophes, are going about their business as usual. When she catches up to Brainy, he has pulled a T-shirt from a pile of merchandise outside the record store. She looks over his shoulder at the print on the black shirt.  
  
"Bon Jovi," she says.  
  
It had been Alex who had introduced Mon-El to the band - two years or eight ago, depending on your timeline. Maybe more than a thousand years ago, if you're Brainy. To say things had been a little rough between her big sister and the Daxamite in the beginning would be an understatement. There was that little incident with Jeremiah, and Mon-El putting his foot in his mouth about National City’s finest, and … well. But Alex had taken to hanging out at the alien bar waiting for Maggie to get off work, and she supposed the two of them had taken to talking. He'd come home from his shift one night and looked up what a "six string" was. When she'd moved to his end of the couch to curiously look at what had him so focused, he'd mumbled something about Alex and the jukebox while continuing to peruse Wikipedia.  
  
"I am quite fond of them," Brainy agrees, oblivious of her lapse into memory.  
  
When Mon-El had crashed back into their lives - this time with a wife and friends-in-arms in tow, and so very, very different from the boy from Daxam - she'd wanted to scream or cry or just give up and laugh at a bit of cold comfort she found - because if Imra was walking around quoting Bon Jovi, it means Mon-El never forgot about them.  
  
"Well, you should get it, if you like it," Kara says, gesturing at the shirt. Her voice isn't as steady as she'd like it to be, and Brainy's brows furrow.  
  
"I've upset you."  
  
"No. No." She clears her throat, trying to cover. "I'm just - "  
  
"Ah, I see," Brainy is already continuing. "I've raised painful memories of your former lover."  
  
_"Brainy!"_ she hisses, with the thought in the back of her mind that they're really going to have to create a human alias for him. She really can't scream at him in public that there is a time and a place to discuss - _those_ things, and this is not it.  
  
"He didn't leave you of his own accord," Brainy continues, unperturbed. "He was needed to stand against my cousin. I ran the simulation - the future needs he and Winn. And besides, the Titan alliance was barely holding together. He and Imra must devise a new plan to keep the peace, with their marriage dissolved."  
  
_"Wait."_  
  
Kara grabs him by the arm, letting go a millisecond later when his wince tells her her grip is too strong for humans or Coluans. She's a breath away from demanding answers right there, but J'onn's disapproving stare in the back of her mind has her taking his arm again - more gently, this time - and pulling him down the row, even further away from the ears of the few others browsing on this side of the street.  
  
"What alliance?"  
  
"You are unaware?"  
  
She bites down the sarcasm, which will surely be lost in translation. "I'm unaware."  
  
"Mon-El and Imra ... in the early days of the Legion, Titan led a factor of planets that was prepared to go to war against Earth and its allies. Imra is from an important family on Titan, and they believed they could convince her father to use his influence to help bring about peace if Earth showed it was committed to a political alliance."  
  
"They got married," Kara whispers, hot and cold chills running over her body despite the fact that the sun is still shining as brightly as before, and she can't really feel external temperatures, anyway.  
  
_Why didn't he tell me?_  
  
"Why didn't he tell me?"  
  
She doesn't even realize she's whispered it aloud, until Brainy answers. "I suppose he didn't want to make Imra anxious, or to get your hopes up, initially. And then, he didn't want to make you feel guilty if he chose not to return to the future with us. Luckily for the Legion, I don't care about guilt."  
  
Out of all the emotions whirling inside of her - confusion, grief, pride, hope, fear, sadness - they suddenly coalesce, and anger flares at the only target in front of her. "How can you talk about your friend that way?" she snaps.  
  
"Because he taught me to put the greater good first, and then he nearly forgot that!" he snaps right back. "Besides, it's only logical."  
  
_Only logical._ Sure - everything has been leading to this point. Winn, who had wanted so badly to be a hero, first helping her, then finding his legs at the DEO, and then, moonlighting as half of the Guardian team, besides. And Mon-El, who wanted to prove he was spared for a reason, who never quite believed that he was. Both of them, real heroes - and Mon-El had taught the man in front of her to be one, too. The man who is now looking at her with something resembling kindness.  
  
"I've run the projections," he offers. "I can tell you the likelihood of their return."  
  
"No!"  
  
Her voice is too loud for the open-air market, and even he notices, lowering his voice. "I thought you might need that."  
  
"I don't want ... I need ... "  
  
What she _needs_. Winn, her first ally, the first person she'd told she was Supergirl. Her suit is under her clothes - the suit he had designed to keep her safe, to honor her lost family and world, to help her spread her wings, at last. And tucked underneath her family's crest on that suit, against her heart, the Legion ring hangs on a chain. She doesn't need it to fly, and it would create far too much attention if Supergirl suddenly started wearing a ring. But she keeps it close. _In case you ever need me._  
  
What she _needs_ is to keep the people she loves, two of the truest hearts she has known, with her always.  
  
So she looks at Brainy with new eyes - suddenly realizing. He has absentmindedly bundled the band T-shirt against his chest, wearing his own Legion ring, as he looks around his new city with absent eyes. She doesn't quite understand him yet - but perhaps, despite his lack of knowledge in processing emotion, he is someone who maybe understands her, just a little bit.  
  
_He's already run the projections_ \- projections he was ready to offer to her.  
  
Because maybe he misses his friends, too.  
  
And maybe that's all either of them needs, is someone to understand.  
  
"So, Mon-El really never told you about Star Wars?"  
  
He shakes his head in the negative.  
  
"Oh man, it's Winn's favorite."

Before she can even force one to her face, she finds herself smiling, anyway, even through the twist of pain in her heart. Because this time, she's going to remember - remember, and smile, and hope.   
  
"Come on. Let's finish shopping, and then we'll do dinner and a movie. Have you tried potstickers yet?"  


**Author's Note:**

> * Title from Bon Jovi's "Never Say Goodbye."


End file.
